This blog is mainly about the spectacular train wreck at The Sacramento Bee and its parent company, the McClatchy Company. But I also post about current events, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, politics, anything else that grabs my attention. Take a look around this blog, hope you enjoy it.

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That title belongs to Barack Obama, the president whose sales spiel bounces Billy like a coconut on a Waikiki wave.

Like Mays, Obama operates from a script — neither of these hucksters ever mined his own material — but Billy taped his infomercials in a studio: If the “Mighty Putty” didn't hold up the garden hose, the stage crew added a rivet.

Obama does “hard sell,” live, and maintains his head-swiveling metronome, unless the teleprompter stops scrolling, or — as it did last week — explodes into a million fragments at the foot of his jet-powered podium.

No president has spent more time in production of set piece messaging. No president has spent more time on the road, in network studios (or importing network studios into the White House), or less time behind his desk during his first six months in office. No president has been so “in-your-face,” from dawn ‘till dusk — on the radio, on the boob-tube, on the newsstand, or on your laptop.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A senior administration official says billions of dollars to raise fees for doctors treating Medicare patients are not covered by President Barack Obama's pledge to pay for health care legislation.

Budget Director Peter Orszag said Tuesday that's because the administration always assumed the money would be spent to prevent a cut of more than 20 percent in doctor fees.

On an interview show called “Give and Take,” hosted by sometime TV pundit Julie Menin, CNN’s Campbell Brown patted herself and her network on the back for being “the only one that is still doing journalism” in cable land.

Menin asked Brown if she felt odd being a “political independent” in this world of cable pundits and lamented that journalism seems to be scant these days. Menin told Brown that at one time, “obviously journalists were independent.” Brown replied by assuming the truth of that “independence” and stated that she and CNN are the only ones “doing journalism” any more.

With the public’s trust in his handling of health care tanking (50%-44% of Americans disapprove), the White House has launched a new phase of its strategy designed to pass Obamacare: all Obama, all the time. As part of that effort, Obama hosted a conference call with leftist bloggers urging them to pressure Congress to pass his health plan as soon as possible.

During the call, a blogger from Maine said he kept running into an Investors Business Daily article that claimed Section 102 of the House health legislation would outlaw private insurance.

He asked: “Is this true? Will people be able to keep their insurance and will insurers be able to write new policies even though H.R. 3200 is passed?” President Obama replied:

“You know, I have to say that I am not familiar with the provision you are talking about.” (quote begins at 17:10)

100 Days of Being a Laughingstock in Paris (Obama versus the CIA)Israpundit

His James Bond days are over, but still, riding a desk for the DGSE —Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure (General Directorate for External Security), France’s military intel agency - in Paris has its decided benefits.

One of them is not being infected with Obamamania. “My agency considers him a joke,” he confides. “Every day there is some fresh lunacy that we cannot believe. Mr. Bush would often make us angry. But at this man we just laugh.”

“In truth, it also makes us sad,” he continued. “French resentment towards America is strong, so being able to laugh at your country feels good. But it is such a sad and strange thing to see America - America The Great! - do something so crazy as to elect this ridiculous man...”

...“There are a lot of people convinced he is a traitor who hates America and is actively determined to destroy it. Any opinion on that?”

He didn’t shrug at this. After a long slow sip of wine, he mused, “I would not go that far. Many of his actions, however, are very puzzling because they are so counter-productive regarding America’s best interests. There seems to be a consistent pattern in that direction.”

Senator Ted Kennedy, who is now 76 years old and was diagnosed with brain cancer in May of last year, is telling the world that nationalized medical care is "the cause of his life." He wants to see it pass as soon as possible, before he departs this vale of tears.

The prospect of Kennedy's passing is viewed by the liberal press with anticipatory tears and mourning. But they are not asking the proper question by their own lights: That question -- which will be asked for you and me when we reach his age and state in life --- is this:

Is Senator Kennedy's life valuable enough to dedicate millions of dollars to extending it another month, another day, another year?

Because Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy agree with each other that they of all people are entitled to make that decision. Your decision to live or die will now be in their hands.

Let's See What U.S. Economy Can Really Do (IBD Editorials.)[Somehow McClatchy missed this one]

Like so much else in Washington — past and present — Barack Obama's ever-expanding economic stimulus initiatives are for the most part a gigantic hoax. Hundreds of millions of people will suffer as a result.

Taking money out of the economy at great cost to everyone, running it through the Treasury coffers, and shoveling what's left back out the door to a select group of favorites is prima facie dumb — if the goal is to help a damaged economy to recover.

Paying off cronies and debts to constituencies is great politics. Calling it "stimulus" is a handy subterfuge. But no matter what one calls it, robbing Peter to pay Paul is not a formula for economic growth. It's a disguised Ponzi scheme, similar to what Bernard Madoff went to jail for doing, and exactly what Barack Obama's long list of political progenitors have been doing to the American people for many decades.

Liberals spent the last few years telling us that we are supposed to care deeply what the French and others think. I suppose that was just more liberal hypocrisy. Right?Now that the opinion might not agree with your, you don't care. Why should we expect for from ideologues who care most about imposing their view of socialism on the rest of us.

WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama shifts his effort to convince the American people healthcare reform is the right thing to do right now to prime time Wednesday.

In an evening news conference, Obama is expected to outline the case for healthcare reform as well as provide an update on what has been accomplished since he took office in January.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told The New York Times Obama intends to use the news conference as a "six-month report card," to talk about "how we rescued the economy from the worst recession" and the legislative agenda moving forward, including health care and energy legislation.

Detroit on the Brink: what 50 straight years of Democrat rule has done to a once great city(The Collins Report) SPIN IT McCLATCHY, SPIN!

Detroit’s death spiral began with Coleman Young’s failed administration.

From 1974 until he left in 1994 Detroit became the quintessential liberal Democrat city. It offered nothing but high crime and low prospects and accelerated White middle class flight.

When the under skilled and overmatched Kwame Kilpatrick was carted off to prison the Motor City virtually ceased to exist. Now after 50 years of inept Democrat political hack administrations Detroit is among the worst places in live in America.

For the past three years FBI statistics have shown Detroit is the murder capital of the nation. Per capita it is more dangerous than Baghdad. Even the outgoing fired Police Chief went home to find his house ransacked by burglars. There are neighborhoods in the city so desolate “the police haven’t patrolled [them] in years.”

The situation in the city they call “Motown” is such that a huge section has been described as “30 square blocks of urban prairie.”

Detroit’s poor condition and decimation is hard to imagine.

These facts paint the picture of what 50 years of Democrats has brought

There are over 16, 000 foreclosed homes in the city, many of which have been taken over by squatters much as could be expected in the old West’s ghost towns.

In January Detroit’s unemployment hit 22.2%!

Even before the full destructive force of Barack Obama’s Marxist policies have been felt, a Detroit real estate agent reported selling a house for a single dollar. He had at least four more $1.00 homes, 1228 houses for sale at under $10,000 and 209 of them under $1,000!

The median selling price of a house in Detroit has tumbled from $66,000 to $5,800 since 2002.

Fifty years of swallowing Democrat lies has gotten Detroiters ever increasing misery. Now they must take responsibility for their votes.

The French see Obooma as a Dumbo. My goodness, they even laugh at him. France is the nation the Democrats wanted to restore to our bosoms, because that bad President Bush exposed their leaders for stealing money from the Iraqi ‘Oil for Food’ program, and strained our ‘once’ cordial relationship. The French will never be cordial to the USA, because they are frozen in jealousy and arrogance. Obama is a phony and a weakling. This time the French are correct in their observations of the Kenyan fraud.

Wow, it's only 9:10cst and there'a already 20 comments by the miserable people out there. Blah blah blah.

How about those Media General results today? Another profit by another media company. McClatchy stock up another 15%. Where's those comments at. No, let's keep on it like king whiners Hannity and druggid Limbaugh.

Oh yeah, we only made money because we cut expenses. I still can't believe that so many of you are so stupid, jaded, bitter, or all of the above the say that cutting expenses can't save the company.

Please keep posting though people because as evident here, misery loves company.

Like the financial expert in today's Sac Bee story said, you can't keep cutting expenses in order to survive. It was also pointed out that the revenue and ad sales loss percentages were based on the awful numbers of a year ago!!

Detroit will demand a bailout forever, or go under, IMHO.I have been in Michigan a month on business, and I have found the state in a more than sad economic condition. Of course, it has been in a one state recession for years, while other states’ were prosperous. The liberal press has done part of the damage. I have been told they wrote as if a ‘former socialist ?’ from Canada was the best governor of the ‘57’ states, even though the state was falling behind every year. NOW, the press blames everything and everybody except the unions and themselves, as their young people flee the state for jobs. Hopeless, there is a horrible business climate here, no temporary bailout will ever fix this Blue State.

7:18 your infantile and futile attempt at spinning it is bad. Most, if not all, of a company's current revenue goals are based on prior year. What is your point in mentioning that? Anyone with a basic understanding of economics knows that.

The numbers were awful a year ago. What is your point in saying that? So you are actually admitting that we did better at this point when compared to last year. Isn't year over year growth what every company wants?

Please help me understand what your point is. If you can't do that, your post is really nothing but the normal whining that everyone else does on here.

SWEETIE IS BACK AND SAID..."Wow, it's only 9:10cst and there'a already 20 comments by the miserable people out there. Blah blah blah.

How about those Media General results today?"

Obama Motors Sales Fall 22%Exhibit A in government's ability to "run" a business:

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors posted Wednesday a 22 percent global sales drop from a year earlier for the first six months of 2009 amid the economic slowdown and the automaker's slide into bankruptcy.

GM said its global first-half sales, which include brands the automaker is trimming from its lineup, fell 21.8 percent to 3.55 million vehicles. The automaker's sales in the second quarter fell 15.4 percent to 1.94 million vehicles.

Hey, I know! Given this ultra-awesome track record, let's let the government run health care, education, "the environment," industry, our retirements - oh, what the hell.

Let them just run everything! Unicorns, funemployment and skittles for all in the Age of Plenty!

...Already, they had seen evidence of the cutbacks Smith was alluding to. All across campus, as a preliminary measure, thermostats had been lowered during the winter months, from 72 degrees to 68 degrees.

Students and faculty were no longer entitled to free coffee at the university’s Barker Center. The Quad Express, which shuttles students between the Radcliffe Quadrangle and Memorial Hall, would soon be running every 20 minutes, not every 10 minutes.

More recently, despite loud protests from Harvard’s athletes, among others, it was announced that hot breakfasts would no longer be served on weekdays at undergraduate residential houses.

Instead of bacon, poached eggs, and waffles, students would have to get by on cold ham, cottage cheese, cereal, and fruit.

The casual, take-it-as-it-comes attitude that’s prevailed over Condé Nast during the past 10 dark months vanished from the atmosphere somewhere above 4 Times Square this week.

The shift in mood started late Monday afternoon when Condé Nast CEO Chuck Townsend sent out a companywide memo that said, rather coldly, that the consulting firm McKinsey & Company had been hired to help the company “rethink” how it does business. A realignment, he said, would be in order.

The memo roiled the whole building.

“It’s terrifying! It freaked me out!” said a Condé Nast staffer.

“Is this part of a McKinsey thing to do that? You know, a must-alert-all employees thing? They never do this! This isn’t a company that does a lot of internal communications.”

19 Detroit City Council candidates owe combined $2.4 million in taxes, three are felons (MLive.com)

Of the 167 candidates running for the Detroit City Council, 19 owe a combined $2.4 million in taxes, one in seven has filed for bankruptcy and three are felons, according to an investigation by The Detroit News.

Many of the candidates are running on reform platforms, arguing their past problems make them stronger candidates.

It's important to note that the majority of council candidates have clean records, but in a field this large and from a city with Detroit's recent history, notable exceptions abound.

There’s a reason places like Detroit, Cleveland, and Washinton D.C. are sewers and don’t ever seem to get better.

The citizens of those cities are racists. They vote for people of their own race, regardless of qualifications, or flaws. Obviously, they get what they deserve, but they scream about “whitey” causing their problems. I’m sick of it.

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